Apparatus for introducing cigarettes from a magazine into vertical channels



Nov. 18, 1952 Asus 2,618,421

APPARATUS FOR INTRODUCING CIGARETTES FROM A MAGAZINE INTO VERTICAL CHANNELS Filed May 16, 1947 i a l I I l I l /////////////////I///I///I//// Patented Nov. 18, 1952 arisen APPARATUS FOR INTRODUCING CIGA- RETTES FROM A MAGAZINE INTO VERTICAL CHANNELS Jii'i Basus, Prague, Czechoslovakia, assignor to The Skoda Works, Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, a

national corporation Application May 16, 1947, Serial No. 748,634 In Germany April 13, 1944 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires April 13, 1964 2 Claims. (Cl. 226-) My invention relates to a cigarette handling machine and more particularly to an apparatus in such machine for. assembling the cigarettes from a hopper or like container in vertical channels of a collecting chamber forming an extension thereof, from which collecting chamber the lowermost row of cigarettes is ejected for further handling particularly for packing by means known in the. art. In the known apparatuses of this type the cigarettes moved from the hopper into the channels of the collecting chamber under their own weight and the movement of the cigarettes into said channels and within said channels was unreliable and discontinuous causing frequent interruptions and irregularities in the handling of the cigarettes.

It is an object of this invention to overcome the above mentioned diiilculties and to assure a continuous flow of the cigarettes from the hopper into and through the channels of the collecting chamber and their proper ejection therefrom.

The said and other objects of my invention will be more fully understood from the following specification when read with the accompanying drawing in which two embodiments are illustrated.

Fig. 1 shows a sectional side view of one embodiment of my new apparatus.

Fig. 2 shows a partial sectional elevational view along line (Ba- 1:2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a sectional view along line "re-$3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows a side view of one position with its supporting means.

Fig. 5 illustrates schematically the movements imparted to the cigarettes by the movable partitions, and

Fig. 6 shows a sectional side view of a modified arrangement.

The same reference characters indicate the same or equivalent elements in all figures.

The cigarette feed apparatus I (Figs. 1 and 2) mounted e. g. on the desk 2 of the packing machine is of the well known hopper type provided at the bottom part with vertical channels 3 (Fig. 2) formed by the walls 4, 5 extending through the bottom 6 of the apparatus I underneath the desk '2 where the walls 4 are firmly inserted in the comb I, whilst the walls 5 are inserted in the comb 8. The comb 1 is provided at the end of the lever 9 arranged pivotally on the pin i l whilst the comb 8 is provided on the lever Ill arranged piv l on th 2 qrzpos te t e pin .11. The

2 pins II, l2 are supported on bearings the desk 2 (Fig. 1).

Said combs l, 8 bear against the rounded ends I5, [6 of the two-arm lever ll (Fig. 1) supported on a pivot 18. A swinging movement is imparted to said pivot l8 and thereby also to said lever ll in a well known manner through the intermediary of the arm [9, link 20, lever 2 i e. g. from an eccentric not shown. Instead of the rounded off ends l5, l 6 rollers or the like may be provided on the lever H. An expeller 22 or similar device discharges the bottom layer of cigarettes into a sleeve 23 or the like.

The motion of the lever ll is transmitted to the walls of the channels in such manner that one wall of said channel 3 is respectively being raised by the rounded off end of one arm of said lever whilst the other wall is moving by gravity downward following the sinking end of the other lever arm. In such manner the walls of the channels are oscillating alternately up and down. Thus in Fig. 1 all the odd walls 4 of the channels 3 are in the lower position whilst the even walls 5 are in the upper position. The cigarettes contained in the chamber of the cigarette feed apparatus above the channel walls are following movements corresponding to the wall movements. In the arrangements hitherto known wherein the walls are following a rectilinear movement, the cigarettes likewise are moved up and down in a straight path without being deflected from the horizontal or normal position. With such an arrangement only the small cigarette vaults arising above the channel mouth are eliminated whilst the vaults consisting of a large number of cigarettes are moving as a whole without disintegration. This constitutes a heavy drawback of the hitherto familiar arrangements.

According to the present invention any formation of cigarette vaults is prevented by that the cigarettes are not only raised and lowered but also deflected from their normal position by being angularly displaced about a fixed point in that alternately the front and the rear ends of each cigarette are in a higher or lower position with respect to one another. Thereby the adhesion between the cigarettes is impeded, the cigarettes are moving individually and any vault tending to be formed is disintegrated. Fig. 4 indicates the movement of the walls. For the sake of a more simple illustration, the wall 5 is shown in Fig. 4 integral with lever It. The lever together with the wall swings around the centre I2 so that any point of the wall is moving on a l3, M on circle. In Fig. 4 are illustrated the paths is of the extreme points of the Wall and the position of the top edge (1-1). The cigarettes contained above the walls are following a movement corresponding to the movement of the walls. Fig. 5 illustrates this position of the cigarettes. From Fig. 5 it may be seen that the cigarette lying normally in a horizontal position c-l on the wall being swung upwards is deflected from this position into the position cldl whilst on the wall being swung downwards the cigarette is brought into position c2d2 so that the cigarette is following not only an up and down motion but also a movement in an axial direction and at the same time changes its angle of inclination. The top ends of the walls are not bound to swing accurately in such manner that the cigarettes be deflected to both sides with regard to the normal position c-d (Fig. 5). They may follow, if the case is desirable, a unilateral movement from cd into cldl or from c-d into c2 -cl2. A similar movement of the cigarettes as indicated in Fig. 5 takes place on the cigarettes passing through the channels 3 where by mutual friction of the cigarettes as well as by the friction of the walls on the cigarettes the entire cigarette column is imparted an axial movement causing said column to sink.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 the walls 4, 5 of the channels are arranged on levers,

the fulcrums H, I2 of which are located at opposite sides of the cigarette feed device I. It is obvious that the scope of the present invention is in no way altered, if both fulcrums are located at the same side of the cigarette feed apparatus or if eventually both fulcrums are coinciding so that the channel walls will swing about a common centre, as can be seen in Fig. 6. In this figure the walls 4, 5 of the channels are firmly inserted within the combs provided at the ends of the levers hinged on a common ivot. Through a mechanism similar to thatillustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3 the Walls 4, 5 are imparted an alternating swinging movement in such manner that when the walls 4 are swinging upwards, all the walls 5 are swinging downwards. It is obvious that the downward movement of the combs l and 8 is not bound to take place merely by gravity but can also be imparted by a positive drive. 7 The common drive of the walls 4 and 5 through the lever IT, as illustrated in Figs. 1 andfi, may be substituted by individual drives for each bomb.

The embodiment illustrated shows an-arrangement using two groups of ;five channels each. However, the invention may be applied also in cases where a different number of channels and a different number of channel groups is to be taken into account. The expeller 22 is merely shown by Way of example and may likewise be replaced by any other suitable device. The invention relates chiefly to the introduction of cigarettes into channels and to the enhancement of the cigarette movement within the channels and may be applied in all cases regardless of the method and number of cigarettes to be discharged out of the channels at their bottom ends.

I claim:

1. In a cigarette handling machine an apparatus for distributing cigarettes from a hopper or 4 ing means below said bottom plate assembling alternating partitions into two separate units, the partitions of one unit meshing with the partitions or" the other unit, actuating means imparting said reciprocating and swaying movement a1 ternatively to each of said partition units, and ejecting means to remove the lowermost rows of cigarettes from the said collecting chamber.

'2. In a cigarette handling machine an apparatus for distributing cigarettes from a hopper or like container into vertical channels of a collecting chamber formingan extension thereof, the improvement comprising in combination a bottom plate closing said collecting chamber, vertical partitions forming said vertical channels for said cigarettes, saidpartitions being freely inserted into said collecting chamber to permit them to be reciprocated and swayed in their vertical plane, parallel apertures in said bottom plate, each aperture receiving one of said vertical partitions freely penetrating therethrough, connecting means below said bottom plate assembling alternating partitions into two separate units, the partitions of one unit meshing with the partitions of the other unit, two swinging supports attached to .said connecting means to effect said reciprocating and swaying movement of the partitions, means to alternately actuate said swinging supports, and ejecting means to remove the lowermost rows of cigarettes from the said collecting chamber.

Jnai BASUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,331,990 Grover Feb.24, 1920 1,544,093 Klein June 30, 1925 1,615,626 Jagenberg Jan. 25, 1927 2,050,711 Malocsay Aug. 11, 1936 

